Scion
Pappekak... which has morphed into the term poppycock in English is originally Dutch, I think, but it means "soft shit" in translation. True!nisaba said:
Let's define "accuracy"
Nevada
I'm often confused, and frankly skeptical, about some statements of accuracy.
To me, accuracy isn't about what's missing (unless a reading is pure dribble, of course), it's about what's there, the substance, and how helpful it is to the sitter.
I read mostly for insight, and mostly for myself, so I can't comment that much on predictive reading, though I find that some of the most accurate predictions arise when I'm not looking for them.
I remember one of the first readings I did for someone else was for a skeptical acquaintance. He didn't have a specific question, and I didn't give a very specific reading. At least I didn't think so. I felt LOST. But he acted amazed, and claimed it was totally accurate. Trouble is, he still wouldn't give me any details. The experience was, all in all, confusing for me. Nice to be told I was accurate, I guess.
But it did nothing to help me learn.
I know the answers are there in the cards and it's my task to extract the meaning from them. That part is definitely to do with the reader. I don't have a sure way to gauge my accuracy, though, except when reading for myself. There are times when I feel a lot of doubt about what I'm getting, and I tend to wonder at those times if I'm at all accurate. There are other times when I feel that a reading is clicking along and I'm definitely on to something. But when it comes to feedback -- I just don't know.
I think that what sitters consider accuracy has to do with their preconceptions about what Tarot will do for them. It's difficult to gauge anything based on a vague statement of whether the reader is accurate or not made by the sitter. I've found myself at times wanting to ask, "What's accurate about it? Where did I hit and where didn't I?" so that, while it's fresh in my mind, I can recognize whether that feeling of clicking is correct or just ... gas?
But I figure that in most cases it's not their job to help train me, unless that's the umbrella under which the reading is initiated. That's where reading for myself and keeping a journal come in, though I know that reading for myself isn't the same as reading for someone else. Still, I find it immensely useful to me personally, whether as a learning tool or not.
Here, in the reading exchanges, I found in the past that I didn't get much information in that regard either. Maybe that was just my perception. Maybe people are reluctant to share what feels too personal to get into, even in a PM, once they've seen it in a reading, even if they thought they didn't mind the reading being public to start with. Maybe they're afraid to criticize. That's my greatest fear, that the reading was completely off and they're just too nice to say. And that's my suspicion when praise is so vague that I can't pinpoint what someone is referring to as accurate. I put a lot into readings, and I just don't have it in me to pump someone for feedback after the fact.
But I've decided that accuracy may not be the point -- at least the details about it may not be the point of feedback. I figure if someone finds my reading helpful, they'll come back again eventually. If they don't, they won't. All I can do is my best in any given situation. If I worry too much about accuracy, it either makes me nervous, or it gets my ego too involved, and then I get a big fat nothing when I try to read.
And as gregory says:
ETA: I guess I went on and on and still didn't really answer the question -- what I consider an accurate reading isn't necessarily a series of details about someone's life, but provides something new for the sitter that they didn't receive elsewhere -- or validates something for them that they knew on some level but hadn't quite accepted or fully realized yet. Something along those lines. If I just came up with details about someone's life, with no connection to anything new to them or helpful, I wouldn't consider that a good Tarot reading. That's more like a psychic parlor trick. I'd rather be more helpful than accurate with random details.
To me, accuracy isn't about what's missing (unless a reading is pure dribble, of course), it's about what's there, the substance, and how helpful it is to the sitter.
I read mostly for insight, and mostly for myself, so I can't comment that much on predictive reading, though I find that some of the most accurate predictions arise when I'm not looking for them.
I remember one of the first readings I did for someone else was for a skeptical acquaintance. He didn't have a specific question, and I didn't give a very specific reading. At least I didn't think so. I felt LOST. But he acted amazed, and claimed it was totally accurate. Trouble is, he still wouldn't give me any details. The experience was, all in all, confusing for me. Nice to be told I was accurate, I guess.
But it did nothing to help me learn.I know the answers are there in the cards and it's my task to extract the meaning from them. That part is definitely to do with the reader. I don't have a sure way to gauge my accuracy, though, except when reading for myself. There are times when I feel a lot of doubt about what I'm getting, and I tend to wonder at those times if I'm at all accurate. There are other times when I feel that a reading is clicking along and I'm definitely on to something. But when it comes to feedback -- I just don't know.
I think that what sitters consider accuracy has to do with their preconceptions about what Tarot will do for them. It's difficult to gauge anything based on a vague statement of whether the reader is accurate or not made by the sitter. I've found myself at times wanting to ask, "What's accurate about it? Where did I hit and where didn't I?" so that, while it's fresh in my mind, I can recognize whether that feeling of clicking is correct or just ... gas?
But I figure that in most cases it's not their job to help train me, unless that's the umbrella under which the reading is initiated. That's where reading for myself and keeping a journal come in, though I know that reading for myself isn't the same as reading for someone else. Still, I find it immensely useful to me personally, whether as a learning tool or not.Here, in the reading exchanges, I found in the past that I didn't get much information in that regard either. Maybe that was just my perception. Maybe people are reluctant to share what feels too personal to get into, even in a PM, once they've seen it in a reading, even if they thought they didn't mind the reading being public to start with. Maybe they're afraid to criticize. That's my greatest fear, that the reading was completely off and they're just too nice to say. And that's my suspicion when praise is so vague that I can't pinpoint what someone is referring to as accurate. I put a lot into readings, and I just don't have it in me to pump someone for feedback after the fact.
But I've decided that accuracy may not be the point -- at least the details about it may not be the point of feedback. I figure if someone finds my reading helpful, they'll come back again eventually. If they don't, they won't. All I can do is my best in any given situation. If I worry too much about accuracy, it either makes me nervous, or it gets my ego too involved, and then I get a big fat nothing when I try to read.
And as gregory says:
Even if we do, sometimes the delay is the problem -- people forget readings, even if they're helpful, unless they keep a record and refer back to it regularly, and the only people I know of who do that are readers themselves.gregory said:
ETA: I guess I went on and on and still didn't really answer the question -- what I consider an accurate reading isn't necessarily a series of details about someone's life, but provides something new for the sitter that they didn't receive elsewhere -- or validates something for them that they knew on some level but hadn't quite accepted or fully realized yet. Something along those lines. If I just came up with details about someone's life, with no connection to anything new to them or helpful, I wouldn't consider that a good Tarot reading. That's more like a psychic parlor trick. I'd rather be more helpful than accurate with random details.
allecto
When reading for someone else (or having someone else read for you) I think 'scary accuracy' is when the reader gets specifics that s/he really couldn't have known through other means. Accuracy only becomes 'scary' when it takes the querant by surprise, I think. Altho as Nisaba has wisely said elsewhere - surely inaccuracy is scarier?
As for retrospective interpretations - I think that hindsight is always 20/20 and interpreting a reading that didn't make sense earlier in light of subsequent events surely runs the risk of making the events and cards fit?
I think accuracy can be the ability find very specific details but most importantly it's about readings that resonate, surely? Those moments that still make you go *wow*
As for retrospective interpretations - I think that hindsight is always 20/20 and interpreting a reading that didn't make sense earlier in light of subsequent events surely runs the risk of making the events and cards fit?
I think accuracy can be the ability find very specific details but most importantly it's about readings that resonate, surely? Those moments that still make you go *wow*
Rev_Vesta
for me there are two types of accuracy.........
from a reader...for a querant......
1) when a reader picks up information that the querant immediately responds to with a yes..........(from the past and present info...)
and 2) when a querant gets back to you and lets you know the things you said have come correct....(from the future past)......
Some things when you do a reading you know are accurate for the querant and other things you just have to wait to know...
Vesta
from a reader...for a querant......
1) when a reader picks up information that the querant immediately responds to with a yes..........(from the past and present info...)
and 2) when a querant gets back to you and lets you know the things you said have come correct....(from the future past)......
Some things when you do a reading you know are accurate for the querant and other things you just have to wait to know...
Vesta
Grizabella
And if you read for the public a lot, you're probably never going to know how things played out for most of your sitters. You'll probably never see most of them again.
Nevada
A thought occurred to me that maybe it's not good to examine accuracy too closely. I mean, if we think that we hone in on where we're accurate in one reading and try to duplicate that in others, we might be sabotaging those other readings. My best readings have been singular events -- unique in some way. I don't think I could duplicate them or their impact if I tried. I hesitate to use the word magic, but it sure felt that way, as if someone sprinkled fairy dust over the sitter and me, or focused a moonbeam through just the right lens, and unexplainable things happened. (Insert Twilight Zone music here.) I know that can also sound like a load of BS, but it happens that way sometimes. It's possible to over-analyze. I think I'm more likely to get a similar thing to happen again by not trying too hard.
Gypsyspell
Hi, I am thinking i have been to readers who are accurate and have been impressed,but i feel it is more important -for me- that a reading is helpful in some way.
A reader could say your cat had 4 kittens last week and 6 mths ago in your kitchen a window smashed in a storm. That is impressive!- and may indicate accuracy for any other perceptions they may have.
A reader could empathise with me , make me feel they REALLY understand issues in my life. I wonder if this would be a helpful thing for me too,in some respects.
So i guess i am saying that for me if a reading changes my perspective, confirms the value in the path i am taking, makes me think and more importantly changes my life so i will then ACT to create change or follow through it has been of more value than the accuracy of generalisations or details about my life!
I really think it is worth the time to analyze what expectations you have and the part any individual will then play in the creation of their future.
Because not everything will just happen regardless. That is where i see Tarot- as a guide!
A reader could say your cat had 4 kittens last week and 6 mths ago in your kitchen a window smashed in a storm. That is impressive!- and may indicate accuracy for any other perceptions they may have.
A reader could empathise with me , make me feel they REALLY understand issues in my life. I wonder if this would be a helpful thing for me too,in some respects.
So i guess i am saying that for me if a reading changes my perspective, confirms the value in the path i am taking, makes me think and more importantly changes my life so i will then ACT to create change or follow through it has been of more value than the accuracy of generalisations or details about my life!
I really think it is worth the time to analyze what expectations you have and the part any individual will then play in the creation of their future.
Because not everything will just happen regardless. That is where i see Tarot- as a guide!
Morwenna
Accuracy is a weird thing in this regard. I admit to being afraid of making mistakes, but actually I consider Tarot (and most divination techniques) to be a means of alerting the querent to possible pitfalls so that they can be avoided! So if the querent works to avoid the pitfalls they won't come true, will they? So how does one define that as accuracy? But it does mean that the reader was doing a proper job and the querent was making proper use of the information!
It is true that, unless one reads for locals all the time, one's querents will probably never see them again. Unless, of course, one reads at annual events and the same people keep coming back! It only happened to me once that I got feedback a year later, but it was quite gratifying to hear a former querent praising my advice. Still, I never expected it, and I wouldn't expect it.
It is true that, unless one reads for locals all the time, one's querents will probably never see them again. Unless, of course, one reads at annual events and the same people keep coming back! It only happened to me once that I got feedback a year later, but it was quite gratifying to hear a former querent praising my advice. Still, I never expected it, and I wouldn't expect it.
gregory
Yes ! Well said. And also - if they refuse to see the pitfalls, and the worst happens they will consider you inaccurate, very likely.... Because that sort of querent comes to you expecting (in the worst way) you to deliver predictions that will be or get them what they want. The kind of querent who comes to a reader knowing the answers they want to get may as well stay home. (Instead of which they will go from reader to reader until they hear what they want to hear - you see it happen here tooMorwenna said:
.) You have to come to a reader with an open mind if you want to get a reading worth having.FaeryGodmother
I think I must be the odd one out in thinking accuracy is important and not just to inflate a readers ego. To my way of thinking what's the point of a reading if it doesn't make any sense or directly relate to the sitter's life?
I get that here we are a learning forum and there's a huge learning curve we go on, especially in terms of trusting the intuition, saying (or writing) what you really think of a reading rather then what you think your sitter wants to hear etc etc, but surely that's the whole point of why we give feedback in reading exchanges? We tell the reader "oh yes, this makes sense because this is what's going on in my life and this was what you picked up" or "no, sorry, nothing like that is happening to me, but maybe you were picking up on some other part of my life".
To me accuracy is more then just being helpful. Its about giving your sitter (or yourself) a way to see their own life from a distance. I don't think tarot can tell you anything you don't already know at some level so to me accuracy is about a reading which resonates with something you already knew deep down inside but didn't have words for. A good and accurate reading will give you those words. It will bring that subconcious knowledge to the concious.
In a lot of ways I agree with Morwenna about accuracy being a bit weird or hard to judge when we are looking at attempting to prevent bad events/ destructive patterns from happening, but I think that it's accurate if the information you recieve from the reading helps you do just that.
I get that here we are a learning forum and there's a huge learning curve we go on, especially in terms of trusting the intuition, saying (or writing) what you really think of a reading rather then what you think your sitter wants to hear etc etc, but surely that's the whole point of why we give feedback in reading exchanges? We tell the reader "oh yes, this makes sense because this is what's going on in my life and this was what you picked up" or "no, sorry, nothing like that is happening to me, but maybe you were picking up on some other part of my life".
To me accuracy is more then just being helpful. Its about giving your sitter (or yourself) a way to see their own life from a distance. I don't think tarot can tell you anything you don't already know at some level so to me accuracy is about a reading which resonates with something you already knew deep down inside but didn't have words for. A good and accurate reading will give you those words. It will bring that subconcious knowledge to the concious.
In a lot of ways I agree with Morwenna about accuracy being a bit weird or hard to judge when we are looking at attempting to prevent bad events/ destructive patterns from happening, but I think that it's accurate if the information you recieve from the reading helps you do just that.
